The New York branch of the Ace Hotel just opened yesterday, and it's a great corrective to the bloated, blinged-out interiors we've come to expect from boutique hotels. Rooms begin at a very reasonable rate for New York--$199 a night--especially given the prime location, at 29th and Broadway.

The burgeoning Ace Hotel chain has been lauded in the design press for its hotels in Portland, Seattle, and Palm Springs. It exemplifies a design approach that has become quite hip among a new breed of hoteliers, such as the Story Hotel in Stockholm, which favors antiques and an at-home feel over the glamor exemplified by Philippe Stark and Marcel Wanders. Thus, the rooms in New York--designed by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, principals of New York-based design firm Roman and Williams--feel like a very stylish friend's apartment, rather than a hotel room. Notcot was privileged with a room for the New York soft launch, and brought back images of the brand new rooms and the well-designed hotel collateral:

Check out more images at Notcot.

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